SUPPORTERS TO HOLD OFF ON GAY RIGHTS BILL
(Portland Press Herald March 10, 1995)
Gay rights advocates said Thursday they will not submit a bill
this year. Instead, they will wait until after voters decide on a
referendum proposal seeking to bar protections for homosexuals.
Sen. Dale McCormick, D-Monmouth, said legislative support has
never been stronger for a bill to amend the Maine Human Rights Act
to bar discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
But in the likely event it would pass said voters would have to
choose between it and the initiated measure to curtail local gay
rights laws.
"I see no benefit to having two conflicting measures on the ballot,"
said McCormick. "It will only serve to confuse matters and it could
result in no clear answer being reached despite a tremendous effort
expected on both sides."
Carolyn Cosby, the leader of Concerned Maine Families, which is
leading the campaign for this fall's initiative, said gay rights
activists are afraid to engage in a public debate preceding a
statewide vote.
"When it became clear to gay militants in the state that their
proposal would have to go to the voters, they withdrew it," said
Cosby. She called the gay rights' advocates decision "an absolute
victory for us."
"We're not dodging it," said McCormick. She and Patricia Ryan,
executive director of the Maine Human Rights Commission, both said
they are confident voters will reject the initiated bill in
November.
Ryan added that the advocates "absolutely" plan to introduce a gay
rights bill during next year's session. Ryan added that they did not
want to risk further confusing voters who must decide a complex
referendum question.
Cosby, predicting victory for her group's initiative in November,
said such a law would torpedo chances for any gay-rights
legislation.
"I don't think you'll see any introduced if this passes," Cosby
said.
The Legislature in 1993 sent a gay rights bill to then-Gov. John R.
McKernan, but he vetoed it. Gov. Angus King has said he would sign
such a bill.
The Maine Civil Liberties Union and the Boston-based Gay & Lesbian
Advocates and Defenders challenged the constitutionality of the
proposal by Cosby's group in Kennebec County Superior Court in
February.
Cosby said the gay rights' advocates' announcement was an "admission
that we are going to prevail in the courts."